More focus should be placed on electricity theft, says Energy Minister
ST JAMES, Jamaica— Minister of Science, Energy and Technology (MSET) Fayval Williams, says more focus needs to be placed on the theft of electricity in the country.
“For us in Jamaica, it is not just about energy efficiency, although that is just as important. We have another problem that we really need to solve and that is the amount of electricity that gets used but not paid for,” she said.
Williams was taking part in a panel discussion at the fourth Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) Ministerial Meeting, which was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James today (February 27).
“It’s a high percentage – about 18 per cent …. so in talking about energy efficiency I know that there is a portion of the population for whom that is very relevant, but for a segment, we have to solve this other problem first,” the Minister indicated.
Williams said she would welcome a partnership with the World Bank to establish a programme that will be attractive to people in that segment of the society.
“It is so that we can move them to becoming the kinds of consumers that we want, to get them paying for the product, and then to begin to get them to think about all the efficiency measures that they can bring to bear on their consumption,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Minister emphasised that the development of effective energy efficiency policies must take into account behavioural changes, in order to generate multiple benefits, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, increased energy security, and lower energy bills in the residential, industrial and service sectors.
More than 30 Energy Ministers from across the region are participating in the meeting, along with other key stakeholders.
The panel discussion, which was hosted jointly with the World Bank and MSET, was held under the theme ‘Unlocking energy efficiency potential in Latin America and the Caribbean: Role of behaviour change and benefits and opportunities for energy efficiency harmonisation’.
The two-day meeting concludes tomorrow Friday, February 28.
